Re: systemd[1]: Starting Daily apt upgrade and clean activities...

[David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk>]

On Tue 08 Feb 2022 at 14:25:35 (-0500), Lee wrote:
> Apparently the syslog message
>   systemd[1]: Starting Daily apt upgrade and clean activities...
> is caused by systemd / apt-daily.timer - correct?
> 
> # sudo systemctl status apt-daily.timer
> ● apt-daily.timer - Daily apt download activities
>      Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/apt-daily.timer; enabled;
> vendor preset: enabled)
>      Active: active (waiting) since Fri 2022-01-28 15:16:57 EST; 1
> weeks 3 days ago
>     Trigger: Wed 2022-02-09 00:33:19 EST; 10h left
>    Triggers: ● apt-daily.service
> 
> I'm sure I don't want any automatic apt upgrade happening, but what
> are the "clean activities"?

You start with the line above:

>      Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/apt-daily.timer; …

and check the service it provides:

$ tail -n 3 /lib/systemd/system/apt-daily.service
ExecStartPre=-/usr/lib/apt/apt-helper wait-online
ExecStart=/usr/lib/apt/apt.systemd.daily update

$ 

So look at:

$ head -n 6 /usr/lib/apt/apt.systemd.daily
#!/bin/sh
#set -e
#
# This file understands the following apt configuration variables:
# Values here are the default.
# Create /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/10periodic file to set your preference.
$ 

That file contains helpful comments and the scripts, but what runs
depends on /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/10periodic, or other apt configurations,
which I don't have set.

Presumably the installers "unattended upgrades" option plays
with this stuff.

(The heads and tails above are just to trim the post; you're
not expected to use them a priori.)

Cheers,
David.